Happy Wednesday! It’s time for CHAPTER 2 of Teaching with Intention, and it’s been another week of this book speaking my LANGUAGE when it comes to best practices in the classroom! I’m LOVING this book choice for our book study hosted by Mr. Greg at The Kindergarten Smorgasboard!!
This week’s Chapter 2 hosts include:
Latoya at Flying into First Grade
Amanda at The Primary Gal
and Melissa from Mrs. Dailey’s Classroom
So our hosts this week gave us some guiding questions to think about as we wrote in reflecting to chapter 2 – which was all about aligning our beliefs to our practices in our classrooms.
Basically…. do you practice what you preach? Do you walk the walk?!
I shared a LOT about the “vision” for my classroom in my first post in this book study series that you can read all about {HERE}.
My vision for my classroom is that it is an inviting, challenging, supportive, and HAPPY place to be. In this chapter, Debbie took a YEAR’S time to reflect on her classroom – was it filled with all of those things that she believed to be true about what a successful classroom should be? As I’ve been teaching for nine years, now, {HOW am I headed into my 10th year of teaching?!} I often wonder… am I still doing things right? Am I still doing great things for kids?! Am I using the best practices that I possibly can to ensure my kiddos’ success each and every day?!
As I mentioned in my post’s intro, am I “walking the walk”? I was told, after being hired, that in an interview once, the interviewers were a bit skeptical that I could talk a good talk, but they were concerned that I wouldn’t also walk the walk. From the moment that I was told that, I always try my best to make sure that I practice what I preach inside of my classroom.
I can talk your ear off all day about differentiation… therefore when you walk in my classroom, you will see small groups GALORE! I think that being organized is a STAPLE for a successfully run, time on task classroom. If you walk into my classroom, I can tell you where absolutely anything is at any given time. Furthermore, I want to CONTINUE “walking the walk”.
Debbie encourages us in chapter 2 to take 15 minutes a day, reflect, and write down what we learn – to be authentic in your practices and to BE YOU!!! (I think you’ve heard me say that a time or two, no?!?) BE YOU I will be 🙂
She encourages you to TRUST yourself as an educator. TRUST that you are doing great things for kiddos. And TRUST that you can always do even better, too! That’s what I strive for each and every day!!….
This year, this little cutie reminded me that I’m doing something right 🙂
And I’m going to TRUST myself that I’m going to keep walking the walk and doing those “somethings” right throughout the next nine years of my teaching career, and the next nine years after that, too!
I found myself doing a lot more YESsing out loud during chapter 2 just as I did in chapter 1! Debbie Miller just simply SPEAKS MY TEACHER LANGUAGE!! Honestly, her beliefs were far too filled with YESses for me to skip over a single one… so as I share her beliefs I’ll be sure to answer the guide question of what are MY beliefs, too!
Debbie’s Belief: Classroom environments are most effective when they are literate and purposeful, organized and accessible, and, most of all AUTHENTIC!!
My thoughts: Oh goodness, my classroom environment is something I take OH so much pride in and to add to Debbie’s thought on it being organized and accessible, I say LABEL YOUR HEART OUT!! Not only does labeling help YOU keep your sanity when you’re searching for something, but it gives the KIDDOS ownership, too of knowing where things are in the classroom and this is SO helpful when you have to have a sub, too!!
click below to head to my post all about my labels galore!!
Debbie’s belief: We cannot underestimate the power of our influence – what we choose to say and do in the classroom profoundly affects the ways children view their teacher, themselves, and each other.
My thoughts: We make a difference. We are being watched all day EVERY day and what we do ALWAYS makes a difference.
Our students look up to us and the ways we interact with them, what we say to them, and HOW we say it them MAKES A DIFFERENCE. It’s all modeled. It MATTERS. Something as simple as when I smile and greet a kiddo good morning. That makes a difference. I got this card from one of my FAVORITE kids ever last year….
LOVE.
I made a difference.
Debbie’s belief: Learning is maximized when the lessons I design are purposeful, interactive, and engaging, with real world application.
My thoughts: My thoughts here are YES YES YES YES. I ALWAYS try to give my kiddos a GOAL and a PURPOSE for each lesson I teach… when I’m feeling really fancy, I even give them a MISSION to accept and complete by the lesson’s end. . . .
In the lesson above, they were given the mission to figure out what the cows missed in the letter before I taught them all about the five parts of the friendly letter! Talk about ENGAGED! LOVE lessons like this! You can click HERE or the image above to check out this lesson in detail and to snag a Friendly Letter FREEBIE!
Debbie’s belief: The gradual release of responsibility instructional model, integrated into a workshop format, best guides children toward understanding and independence.
My thoughts: This is HARD for me. I like control. I PARTICULARLY like control in my classroom. However I am brought to tears when I LET GO and LET MY KIDDOS independently guide their own learning…. I love to walk around the room and observe and listen to their thoughts on what we are learning, or about what strategy they can use to help themselves and why! It’s HARD to release that control, but it’s SO so SO powerful!!
Debbie’s belief: Formative, ongoing assessment enlightens and informs my day to day work with children.
My thoughts: Formative assessment LOVE going on in room 201. I love to do quick exit tickets using my show what you know board… inspired by Mrs. Heeran’s Happenings
It’s SUCH an easy and QUICK way to AT A GLANCE formatively assess who’s got it! I can also differentiate by giving each kiddo a different question or a different level of difficulty of a question to answer for their exit ticket, too! Feel free to email me at schroedershenanigansin2nd@gmail.com if you’d like more of an explanation of how I use this board in my classroom!
Debbie’s belief: A workshop format based on the elements of time, choice, response, and community fosters active, responsive teaching, and learning.
My thoughts: Balance. Balance is good. Anything in moderation, right? And I think the same is true in your classroom. Your classroom needs to be filled with a little bit of ALL of the right things. Smiles, quite, sharing, independent thinking, accountability, teacher talk{yes it’s true}, cooperation, student led learning, and the list goes on and on and on!! BALANCE!! Find what you love and what you BELIEVE to be best practices in your classroom and WALK THAT WALK!!
Thanks so much for reading my thoughts on chapter 2! Check back next Wednesday as we dig into chapter 3!! 🙂
LOVE that sweet note from your kiddo! You are doing a great job friend! I love your labels and the way that you give your kids freedom to find what they need around your classroom! Your letter from the cows is awesome too! What a way to hook your students and get them engaged from the beginning!!
Mrs. 3rd Grade
Wow! Your classroom looks so engaging and inviting! I love your 'Show What You Know' board! If I was in 2nd grade – I would want to be in your class!
Peggy @ Primary Flourish